The Library of Essays on Music Performance Practice

The revival of interest in early instruments that began over a hundred years ago has more recently led to a desire amongst scholars, performers, and listeners to understand how old instruments sounded, how music was sung and by whom, and how musical symbols were interpreted. The essays brought together in this series show how the results of research into performance practice have fundamentally changed the way that early music is performed today. The four volumes in this series are divided according to the traditional boundaries of the historical periods in music: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical/Romantic. The repertoire represented ranges broadly across Western art music, both secular and sacred, and each volume addresses issues that arise in both vocal and instrumental music. The geographical area covered also extends well beyond Europe. Each volume is edited by a recognized authority in the field of performance practice, and includes a select bibliography and an introduction which offers an authoritative overview of the issues and controversies that have dominated performance practice research within the period. This collection of the most influential English-language writings about performance practice published within the past several decades is an essential reference tool for libraries. In addition, the series offers a significant benefit to students as it brings together important articles in the field from disparate journals which are often difficult to locate and of limited access. Students are thus able to study leading articles side by side for comparison whilst lecturers are provided with an invaluable ’one-stop’ teaching resource.

Mary Cyr is Professor of Music, Emerita, at the University of Guelph, Canada.